New Porsche dealer taken over PCA, corrupted local PCA
 

I'm a long time Porsche owner and something has come to my attention in the Porsche community that concerns me greatly.

Recently, a new Porsche dealer has moved into our town of 5-6 million people and bought out all the other Porsche dealers and closed them, leaving us with only 1 Porsche dealership within 100 miles.

Several PCA members have had poor experiences with them already, myself included when I purchased a pre-owned Porsche. I don't want to get into specifics because it would reveal who I am to any local PCA members reading, but sufficient to say I'll be taking my porsche to the other dealership 100 miles away for service.

When we expressed our grievances on the local PCA facebook page we were essentially told to shut up by the local PCA President, that we can not disparage a PCA sponsor. Now when Porsche owners post that they need service to the PCA facebook page, we recommend other non-Porsche shops and send them private messages telling them to avoid the only Porsche dealer in town.

The PCA President seems happily oblivious, cheerfully posting about how wonderful the new Porsche dealership is and schedules PCA meetings there several times a year.

I'm disappointed that the PCA has turned it's back on their paying members and instead bowed down to this new dealership that many PCA members are having serious problems with.

Is there anything that can be done? Besides giving up on Porsche?

p.s. I posted this on rennlist yesterday and admin deleted it within 4 hours, guess they're hiding corruption too which is unfortunate.

What city?

No offense but your story seems a little fishy without any more info than your providing. Did you buy the used Porsche from this dealer? What were the problems that you and others had with them? Anyone spending the kind if money it would take to buy 5 Porsche franchises just close them makes no sense.

Welcome to the forum. Tell us a bit about your car and post a picture please. We all love Boxster/Porsche pictures.

I live in a small city of under 20,000 people and it is over an hour drive to the nearest Porsche dealer or any PCA activities. I choose which activities I want to attend and enjoy them. My Porsches (9PAs and 986s) are not in warranty and the dealership is irrelevant.

My advice: If you have a legitimate gripe, don't fear reprisal and hide your identity. The PCA has a lot of great people and I expect this is best handled in an open discussion rather than sniping from the dark corners. Regrettably there is no getting around the Dealership being a hub of activity and the PCA president should have a good working relationship with them. If the dealership really is that bad, consensus will build on your side. Maybe best to step back for a bit. Being bitter over this will hurt you more than it will them.

Doesn’t each PCA chapter have a designated Porsche Dealer Liason to help work out problems members may be having? 5-6 million people is a decent sized city, but if the other dealers sold out there must not have been enough of a market for them all to thrive, the dealer wouldn’t have paid huge amounts just to shut them down.

can't tell you anything else without the dealership finding out who I am and me being blackballed by the PCA.

I don't know the specifics about closing the other porsche dealership, but the lamborghini dealerships are doing fine, along with the bentley and the rolls-royce, so the local market seems to be there for other exotics.

Small town of 5-6 million people?
Yea right
This sounds like a load of bullcrap

Do you want me to call it a large town? Your complaint is that I called 6 million people a "small town"?

Sorry then, I'll edit my post, I'll just remove that part entirely if it makes you feel better.

What do you want? I'm lost.

This thread is useless without SOME specifics. Maybe it is time to just move on...

what specifics do you need? New bad dealership, only dealership, local PCA doesn't care. What is missing?

I think I understand better now then when I wrote my first reply.

For you? Probably not. (Consider a BMW.)

Good for them. :cheers:

+1000 percent

After thinking about it maybe your right. I'm starting to think its a big conspiracy. I think that dealer is out get you. You should move to a smaller town. Ya know, maybe only a couple million people.:rolleyes:

With all due respect, with zero specifics, your statement comes across as sour grapes.
My community has zero Porsche dealerships and no active PCA. And I'm not driving
an hour to visit a dealer or if it exists, join that communities PCA.

Are you have specific issues with the vehicle? If so, find a trustworthy local indy. You'll likely get better return on your investment anyway.

With all due respect, why is this so-called "issue" being brought up on this particular forum?

Just seems like bollocks to me.

Just sayin'...............

TO

The Los Angeles area has 9 Porsche dealers and about 20 million people. Not sure where you would find 5-6 dealerships with only 5-6 million people. I also doubt anyone could afford to buy up dealerships just to close them, nor do I think Porsche North America would allow it. If you have a problem with your local PCA reach out to the National PCA HQ for guidance.

PCA is not tiny. Reaching out to the national organization is exactly what you should do. I'm also guessing that the local chapter doesn't want to piss off the only dealer in town because they'd lose a major partner for discounts and events.

More than anything I'm not sure what you expect any of us to do. This is a forum for cars that haven't been produced in 13 years. Most of us never see a dealership. Id hardly call this corruption though.

Fun fact... Sydney, the most populous city in Australia (in fact the whole of Oceania), has almost exactly 5 million people, and is almost exactly the same size as the LA metropolitan area. We do have 3 Porsche dealers though! That's all, I've got nothing more to add :)

Why do you expect your local Porsche Club of America to champion your issue? Regional PCAs get a chunk of their $$$ from their local Porsche dealership. If the local PCA makes the local dealership unhappy, they could lose a lot of funding. If your issue has nothing to do with the club, they're not going to deal with whatever your beef is with the dealership. So I don't understand why you think they should be your champion.

Have you contacted Porsche Cars of North America? They are better equipped to deal with the kind of issues you are hinting at.

And finally, it sounds like you had a bad experience with the purchase process. Have you poisoned the well so much that you don't feel comfortable taking your Porsche there for service work? Or did you raise such a stink that they banned you?

The best way to express your dislike with a dealership is to let your wallet do the talking. Either buy a different brand or buy a Porsche from some other dealer. The dealer here in OMA has sold Porsches to happy customers in almost every state in the continental US.

Troll post with a personal beef re: one dealership.

Protip: Choose a different dealership and move on with your life. Vague accusations and sour grapes on a car forum just make you look weak.

:chicken:

Some practical advice...

Sounds like a good path forward. If you don't like the dealer and if you feel the need to get the word out, then post the pertinent info to your own FB page (not someone else's) and then go somewhere else for purchase/repairs. End of story - right?

PCA people are generally VERY helpful! Do you know the President of your region personally? If not, you should. Then go and talk with him and get his advice. Maybe he and the PCA aren't in position to do anything. And if he/she says that they can't help, thank them for their time and trust that they would help if they could. Calling someone corrupt just because they didn't do what you want them to do is slinging mud. Please don't go there. And trying to undermine the relationship between your Region and the local dealer is the wrong message when you're asking both of them to listen to your issues.

It is entirely normal and expected for Region leadership to be working with the local dealer(s). Seems like the dealer is supporting the Region by hosting meetings several times a year. Not only can I not find fault here, but I would commend the Region President for doing a good job because that is what should be happening.

What exactly do you want the PCA to do? Please be EXACT. And please think about this before you hit the keyboard.

Have you tried to work out the issues with the dealership on your own? Did you speak to the sales manager or service manager? Did you ask to speak to the dealer manager?

Now, with all of the above information, what could the PCA do that you have not been able to accomplish on your own?

Do you really want the PCA to be your personal advocate? Remember, these folks are just plain old Porsche owners like the rest of us who volunteer their time and efforts. Are you really asking them to become consumer advocates on their own time? On what basis/knowledge/training would they do this?

Personally, I have found that the best way to get problems like this resolved is to go to the dealer in person, be polite and personable, know what you want them to do (within reason), and meet with the right person. You should be able to do this on your own.

Yes, go meet with the dealer and work out the issues. There is no reason to give up on Porsche because of a bad dealer experience. But if you think that you're going to change how the dealer "does business" you will probably be disappointed. The dealer has the right to legally operate however they want. And you have the right to go somewhere else if you don't like how they operate.

Complaining here about Rennlist doesn't help. If you have a beef with them, contact their admin. Just remember that we all exist on Forum's at the discretion of the admin's.

exactly right, they're deathly afraid of pissing off the only dealership

rennlist and 6speedonline already deleted the post. So much for "helpful"

I guess I'd like the PCA to disassociate themselves with the only porsche dealership in town until we get the issues many members are having with them resolved.

The Boxster is still in production. Only the 986 is no longer in production.

And this is a 986 forum, not a Boxster forum, so...yeah. :)

You're barking up the wrong tree. Your PCA group is not likely to do this for the reasons already stated.

As I mentioned in my previous post, you and your friends need to work with PCNA. They are going to be more interested in your issue. Here's a quote from their website:

"Established in 1984, it is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, which is headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany. PCNA employs approximately 300 people who provide Porsche vehicles, parts, service, marketing and training for its 189 dealers. They in turn, work to provide Porsche customers with best-in-class experience."

https://www.porsche.com/usa/aboutporsche/porschecarsnorthamerica/aboutporschecarsnorthamerica/

I think you'll have better traction working with PCNA, not PCA.

In 2015, there was a push by Porsche to close about 5 to 7 redundant dealerships. I know the one in Fayetteville NC (much smaller area than OP's described but a lot of Army and AF personnel rotating from overseas) went away probably in 2016. I went to them for service once maybe 8 years ago but there were few P-cars around and it was more a Mercedes shop.

Why close them? Because it costs money in demos, parts, literature, signage etc would be my guess.

Yes, this happened a few years ago

I'm a new franchised dealer for a different make, and a former Porsche dealer manager. I've also worked in dealer development.

1) One dealer doesn't buy out "all the other dealers", shut them down as they are profit centers.
2) This story is too vague.
3) What was the issue?
I deal with issues where the customer is totally unreasonable and has unrealistic expectations.

Tell us more or delete this thread.

Ok, this is progress.

Now, let's assume that the PCA did what you asked. What exactly would you like the dealer to do to make you happy?